Cameroon-Russia : Bilateral Meeting In St Petersburg

It was a rainy, but busy day for President Paul Biya and his official entourage in St Petersburg on Friday 28 July, 2023 as the Head of State had to attend the Russia-Africa Summit plenary as early as 8:00 a.m local time where he made the country’s stance on global issues known before later having bilateral talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The close to two-hour discussion, their first-ever encounter in Russia, that went up to 10:00 p.m. (local time which was 8:00 p.m. in Yaounde) started with President Putin receiving his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya at the Expo-Forum Conference Centre. They both had a brief exchange before moving to join their different delegations for more business.    
Presidents Paul Biya and Vladimir Putin later had a close-door meeting, after making public declarations in the presence of their different delegations. The Head of State expressed gratitude for the warm welcome accorded him and his entourage since their arrival in St Petersburg the previous day. He thanked President Vladimir Putin for inviting him to this important summit between the Russian Federation and Africa noting the long-standing relations between Cameroon and Russia. To President Biya, his presence in Russia was to reinforce the existing relations between Russia and Cameroon which date back to decades.     
A welcome statement by President Putin to his Cameroonian counterpart and his delegation, saluted the trade and investment activities between Russia and Cameroon saying although bilateral trade decreased between Russia and Cameroon with a decline in Russia exports from Cameroon, imports from Cameroon to Russia grew more than 17-fold. Mr. Putin remarked that there is a growing number of Russian investors ready to do business in Cameroon. 
Concerning diplomatic relations between both countries, Vladimir Putin said: “The ties between Russia and Cameroon are built on mutual respect and partnership. Next year we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. We hope that our meeting will serve as an additional impetus to strengthening interaction between our two countries. We are in favour of invigorating our political dialogue and expanding contacts at all levels.” He underlined Russian readiness to continue with assistance to Cameroonian students who want to study in Russian higher institutions adding that 2,000 specialists from Cameroon have undergone training in Russia and currently, 814 Cameroonian citizens are studying in Russia, with 47 of them receiving State scholarships and they will double the quota for Cameroonian students to 100 scholarships for the upcoming academic year. President Putin noted with sati...